


Passing It On

by allmylovesatonce



Series: kids, huh? bet we could make some. [1]
Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:40:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28888503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allmylovesatonce/pseuds/allmylovesatonce
Summary: Alex sits to watch the Inauguration in the year 2033, joined by his daughter who seemed to be very taken with politics, much to his delight.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Series: kids, huh? bet we could make some. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118546
Comments: 16
Kudos: 135





	Passing It On

**Author's Note:**

> Truly did not expect to write TWO inauguration fics, but here we are. This idea popped in my head and I simply couldn't not write it. So enjoy! I have lots of kidfic ideas, so hopefully, if y'all are interested, I'll start writing some of those.

Alex sits with his eyes glued to the screen. He watches the hundreds of American flags sway in the breeze. Their house is warm, but he can almost feel the familiar chill from two separate January days many years ago. He feels a smile cross his face as he sees the President-Elect and the Vice President-Elect walk out onto the Capitol balcony, ready to take their places. 

Twelve years ago, it had been his mother making the same trip, walking along with Mike Holleran while Alex, June, Nora, and Henry watched eagerly. As he watches everyone file into place, his mind drifts back to his mother’s first and second inaugurations. How proud of her he’d been at both, how eager he’d been for his mother to take her place in history. 

He’ll never forget the day he was looking through a book on the presidents with Lucy and she smacked her hand against Ellen’s picture. “Nana!” she’d yelled. Alex had smiled brilliantly at the time. His little girl would grow up not only in a world where a woman could be — and had been — president, but also was her grandmother. 

As he thinks back on that day, the sound of small feet patter closer to the room. She must be finished with her snack. Lucy looks up at Alex and then glances over to the television. Her little body freezes, something that  _ never  _ happens. In that moment, Alex watches his daughter, clearly taken with what’s happening in front of her. 

“What are you watching, Papi?” she asks, not moving from her place. 

“The Inauguration.” He says it, immediately waiting for her to question him. Sure enough, her little head turns and stares at him, confused by the big word he’d thrown at her. Alex chuckles to himself, picking her up and setting her on his lap. 

“The what?” 

He presses a kiss to her head. “So, what’s happening right now on the screen, is that man in the suit is becoming the next president.” 

“Like Nana?” 

“Exactly. Like Nana.” 

His eyes flick back to the screen as he feels Lucy settle in against him. It’s not some animated show, so frankly, he’s surprised she cares. Maybe she’ll be like him and she’ll be completely taken with American politics. Henry would probably cry if that were the case. He’s still holding out hope for another literature junkie. June’s attempting to jump on that train too. 

So Alex takes this moment to let his daughter observe democracy being upheld and it feels precious to him. 

“Is that Nana’s house?” 

He laughs. “No, the house where the President lives is called The White House.” 

“That’s white.” 

“You are right,” he says, still chuckling to himself. “But that building is called the Capitol.” 

“What’s that?” 

He should be used to it by now, the million questions for everything he or Henry say. “Okay, so do you remember me telling you that Abuelito is something called a Senator?” She looks unsure, but nods. “So, that building there is where Abuelito works. Uncle Raf works there too. It’s where congress works.” 

“Okay…” 

One day she’ll understand it all. And Alex can’t wait to teach it to her. 

“Have you been there?”

“Many, many times.” 

“Did you go for an ingeratin?”

“The inauguration? Yes. Daddy and I have both been there for an inauguration.” 

Lucy turns around on his lap, looking him in the eye with a confused expression. “But Daddy is from London.” 

He shouldn’t be surprised by how much his child is a damn sponge, but sometimes she is. The little things that they’ve taught her about themselves have stuck far better than Alex ever expected. He nods to her. “You’re right. Daddy is from London. But he came over here to go to Nana’s second inauguration with me.” 

“Hmm.” She turns around on Alex’s lap and sits back against his chest. “Has Auntie June been there?” 

“Yes.” 

“And Auntie Nora?”

“Yep. She was there too. Nora’s grandpa was Nana’s Vice President.” 

Based on the silence from her, Alex thinks he’s lost her again. He slouches back in his chair, watching the new Vice President be sworn in. To her credit — and Alex’s surprise — Lucy seems content to sit there with him and watch. He’s impressed that her four-year-old attention span is stretching to watching this ceremony. 

Back in the kitchen, he hears a chair scrape against the table and he figures Henry must be finished feeding the baby. The muffled sound of Henry’s voice as he talks to their son carries into the family room, making Alex smile absently to himself. Lucy starts to grow a bit restless in his lap. 

“What are they doing?” she asks. 

“You see the man right there?” 

“Who’s holding the book?”

Alex grins at the sight of the new President and his new First Gentleman. “No, the one whose hand is on the book. So, he is becoming the president.” 

“Another one?” 

“What do you mean?” Alex frowns. 

“You already picked one! When we went to the school.” 

“Oh!” Alex says, dragging out the word. “Okay, so when I took you to the school with me, we were voting. So we were picking out who we wanted to be the next President. And then they counted everyone’s votes and...this guy right here who’s saying all these words, he’s the one we picked to be president. And so they have all these steps we go through every time we pick out a new president and it starts in November, when we vote and in January, they become the president.” 

“Are you attempting to explain the intricacies of American democracy to our four year old?” Henry asks, walking slowly in the room behind their fresh-to-walking one year old. 

“She’s asking a lot of questions, baby,” Alex tells him, holding an arm out for Samuel to walk to him. He stumbles and falls on his butt about halfway between Alex and Henry. 

“Come on, Sammy!” Lucy calls from her spot on Alex’s lap. “Come watch the ingeratin!” 

Alex glances over to Henry, watching him stifle a laugh. They let Sam toddle his way over to the couch. Sliding Lucy off his lap, Alex scoops up his son and sits him on one leg. Lucy crawls back into his lap. Alex starts narrating for both of them everything that’s going on. He can hear Henry chuckling, but ignores him. When he looks up to see if Henry’s left the room, he catches him lowering his phone. He can tell by Henry’s grin that he’s captured the moment in front of him. 

Henry joins them and Lucy starts to ask him her questions as well. He does his best to answer them, but fields most of them to Alex. He tries not to rub it in Henry’s face with each question she asks. It’s clear she’s interested. Although, at 4 years old, she’s interested in  _ everything.  _

“I swear,” Henry whispers, “if you turn our daughter into a politics junkie like you, I’ll never forgive you.” 

“We have two kids,” Alex replies, not taking his eyes off the tv. “You can make Sam like all your literature.” 

Henry scoffs, flicking Alex’s ear. “I’d like to have well rounded children. Maybe both of them can like both politics and literature.” He glances at Lucy before looking back at Alex. “You think she’s bad now, wait until you run in another election.” 

Alex grins. It’s far off. The last one was...well, it wasn’t the right time. But he likes to imagine Lucy’s eagerness continuing. 

Sam chews on one of his teethers while Lucy fidgets on Alex’s other leg. Beside him, Alex’s phone lights up with a notification. He’s been tagged in a post. His notifications are set up so he only gets an alert if it’s from a specific set of people. Based on the look on Henry’s face, he knows who tagged him. 

Alex looks at a shot of him with both their kids on his lap, artfully taken with the tv in there as well. The caption reads:  _ The American has decided to teach them all about democracy. I won’t tell him they’re too young to understand it now. Maybe next, we’ll tackle British politics.  _

He grins over at his husband, squeezing Lucy and Sam a bit tighter on his lap. Lucy doesn’t seem to appreciate it, so she crawls over onto Henry’s lap. Henry does a poor job of not looking smug. “Wait! I know this song!” Lucy yells, watching the screen closely. 

Unable to stop himself, Alex bursts out laughing. She’s trying to sing along to the national anthem and clearly only knows the melody — kind of. He claps a hand over his mouth at the look Henry gives him. “Did you include this on the kids’ music playlist for the plane?” Alex asks Henry, trying to stifle a laugh.

“Yes, I decided to include  _ your  _ national anthem.” 

“It would be kind of weird if you included  _ God Save the Queen. _ She doesn’t need to already know the song about her grandmother.” 

“Exactly. But I certainly didn’t put this on there. Maybe one of your parents secretly taught it to her,” Henry suggests. 

Lucy has finally stopped trying to sing. They are thankfully spared a four-year-old trying to hit “The rocket’s red glare.” 

Alex keeps checking Henry’s post, watching the numbers blow up, watching people’s comments — mostly complimentary — pour in. Some things never change. They’re hesitant about how often they post the kids on social media. Unfortunately, because of their status as dukes and part of the royal family, the kids are in the spotlight more than they’d like. Henry is very aware of not letting his children have the same experiences he did. He wants them to be as normal as possible. 

Granted, with one of their grandmothers being the Queen of England and the other being a former President of the United States, their lives were never going to be  _ that  _ normal. 

His phone lights up with a call from his mother. “Hello.” 

“Are you watching this?” 

Alex laughs. “Of course I am.” 

“Is it bad that I’m jealous of that rendition of the Star Spangled Banner?” Ellen asks. “That was better than either of mine.” 

“I couldn’t tell you. We had someone here who fancied herself a singer.” He watches his daughter, still mysteriously glued to the television. A smile crosses his face. 

“That sounds precious. You should have taken a video.” 

Alex scrunches his nose. “Let me tell you, that was a sound only a parent could love.” 

“Grandparents aren’t usually excluded from that statement.” 

“You might have been.” He jiggles his leg, bouncing Sam a bit, making him laugh. “Are you sad that you’re not there? Getting all nostalgic?” 

He can hear her laugh a bit. “Kind of. I do wish I was there. But Leo needed this surgery and I didn’t want to leave him alone. I called Senator Collins and expressed my regrets for not being there. I also plan to meet with him when I can.” 

“That’s kind of you, Mom. Leo still in surgery?” 

“Yep.” 

“How is that recovery going to go?” 

“Shouldn’t be too terrible, I think,” Ellen says. “But you know what would probably really help him recover faster?” 

“What’s that?” 

“A visit from his favorite little prince and princess.” 

“You’re lucky that June’s children aren’t royalty. She might get offended. Also, need I remind you that they don’t have titles?” 

“I will call them a prince and princess so I don’t have to specify which kids I’m talking about.” 

“Okay, sure.” 

“Pop, what are they doing now?” 

“Hey, Mom, I gotta go.” He holds the phone out. “Lucy, yell bye to Nana.” 

“Bye, Nana!” she truly yells. 

He’s laughing as he puts the phone to his ear. “I’ll talk to you later, okay? Keep me posted on Leo.” 

“Will do. Give those kids a squeeze for me.” 

“I will. Bye.” 

“Bye, sugar.” 

“Is Nana there?” Lucy asks, looking back at the tv. 

“No. Grandpa Leo had to have surgery.” She frowns, clearly confused. “Like the time we visited Daddy at the hospital because he had to have surgery?” 

She looks back at Henry, clearly trying to scroll back through her tiny mind. “Oh yeah.” 

Eventually, nap time hits and Henry and Alex put both of them down to sleep. Henry goes to work on some things in the office and Alex continues to watch the coverage. By the time they’re covering the Inaugural Ball, Sam is asleep again in Henry’s arms and Lucy is fresh out of the bath, in her favorite pajamas, smelling like her bath soap. She seems so taken by the dresses and suits at the ball. 

“Did you do that, Pop?” 

He presses a kiss to her head. “You bet I did.” He glances over at Henry, remembering the last time. “Daddy was there too.” 

Her head whips around and stares at Henry. “Really?” 

Henry nods, a fond, but tired look on his face. “I was. I danced with your Papi all night.” He scrunches up his nose. “Well, until your Auntie Nora jumped in and demanded to dance with both of us.” 

She laughs. Alex wonders if she can imagine it as clearly as he can recall it. Her eyes turn back to the screen and she lays against Alex’s chest. “I like that.” 

Alex holds her tightly in his arms, thinking back to his mother’s second inauguration. Even then, when he’d tried to picture what his life would hold, he didn’t know if it would hold all of this. He glances over at Henry, their son in his arms, looks down at their daughter in his lap, and his heart feels incredibly full. Alex shares a smile with Henry who is clearly remembering the ball as well. 

Seeing how captivated Lucy’s been watching the coverage with Alex, he wouldn’t be surprised if one day she wanted to end up there too. Like father, like daughter. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, I'm three-drink-amy on tumblr!


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